If you don’t have money coming from Washington’s unclaimed property, you may have it coming from other states where you once lived. That includes Peggy Hagerman of Seattle, who just discovered she has $3,800 in unclaimed cash in California. She went to www.unclaimed.org, a link to other states’ unclaimed property programs that she learned about through Washington’s site.

Hagerman said the funds were in a bank account that her late mother had administered for the estate of an aunt. “I had no idea any funds were left, so that was pretty exciting,” she said. “We can use it!”

The Department even contacts individuals with large amounts of unclaimed money. Take Larry Miles of Bellevue, who learned from the Department’s finder, Frank Marshall, that he had $16,000 due from the cash value of a life insurance policy.

“It was a little bit of a windfall that I was unaware of,” Miles said. “Had he not made the outreach, I certainly would not have known it was out there.”

Aetna Life Insurance Co., of Hartford, Conn., was fined $65,000 for violations, including unreasonably denying 220 claims for acupuncture treatment. The company also refunded $16,427 to policyholders.

Ace American Insurance Co., of Philadelphia, Penn., was fined $50,000 for violations, including using rates that it had not filed with the state.

Progressive American Insurance Co., Progressive Northwestern Insurance Co, and Progressive Max Insurance Co, all of Mayfield Village, Ohio, were fined $30,000 for improperly deducting sales tax and fees from cash value calculations in more than 1,700 auto claims. The company also refunded $415,299 to customers.

Homesite Insurance Company of the Midwest, of Mandan, N. Dakota, was fined $12,000 for overcharging more than 300 policyholders for renter’s insurance. The policyholders are receiving refunds.

Austin Mutual Insurance Co., of Maple Grove, MN, was fined $10,000 for issuing insurance policies that weren’t in accordance with the rates it had filed with the state. As a result, 324 policyholders were overcharged a total of $26,200. The company also agreed to refund the overcharges to policyholders within 60 days.

Doctors and Surgeons Benefit Association, of Charlestown, Nevis, West Indies; and several related entities were ordered to stop selling unauthorized insurance in Washington state.

In addition, Kreidler also took the following actions against agents or brokers:

Mitchell A. Steitz, of Cashmere: License revoked, effective March 31, for misappropriating $12,500 from clients and spending it himself, rather than investing it.

Allen D. James, of Sumner, agreed to pay a $1,000 fine for failing to promptly pay a premium refund to a client.

Enforcement actions like these are often prompted by consumer complaints to the insurance commissioner’s office. Anyone with a complaint against an insurer, agent or broker can contact the office at 1-800-562-6900 or file a complaint online at www.insurance.wa.gov.

Note: In some cases, the fines were larger, but a portion was suspended on the condition that the companies follow compliance plans to remedy the problems. The fines listed above are what’s actually being paid.

Licenses and permits are avaiIable online, by phone (1-866-246-9453) and from sporting goods stores and other retail license dealers around the state. A list of license vendorsis available online and from local WDFW offices around the state.

Key dates for anglers and hunters to keep in mind for the month of April include:

April 2-3 – A two-day spring turkey hunt for hunters age 15 and younger is scheduled statewide.

April 4 – Springchinook fishery closes below Bonneville Dam, but could reopen after a catch assessment.

April 30 – Several hundred lowland lakes open to trout fishing across the state for the biggest “opening day” of the year.

For more information about these and other outdoor activities coming up in the weeks ahead, see the region-by-region Weekender Reportson WDFW’s website. These reports are updated throughout the month for changes in fishing rules and other developments throughout the state.

AHAB sirens in Grays Harbor County are located in Pacific Beach, Copalis Beach, Ocean City, Ocean Shores, Hoquiam, Aberdeen, Moclips, Westport and Grayland. All Grays Harbor County sirens will be included in the test beginning at noon.

AHAB sirens have a range of about one mile in radius depending on topography and weather. The activation will be Westminster Chimes followed by a test voice message. These sirens are meant to provide emergency notification to people who are OUTDOORS! Residents and businesses located within a tsunami inundation area are encouraged to maintain a working NOAA Weather Radio.

Please DO NOT CALL 911 regarding this testing. If you have any questions or reports regarding the test, please contact Grays Harbor County Emergency Management at 360-249-3911 or ghcdem@co.grays-harbor.wa.us.

BAY CENTER, Wash. – Attempting to start a fire with gasoline was the cause of a blaze that destroyed a Bay Center home, and injured the juvenile involved Tuesday afternoon. The Raymond Fire Department assisted Fire District 6 with the response to the fully involved home around 4:30 Tuesday, The Pacific County Sheriff’s Department tells us the sole occupant suffered non-life threatening injuries, the home was destroyed.

Both Tharinger and Van De Wege represent the 24th Legislative District, which includes all of Clallam and Jefferson counties, and parts of Grays Harbor. The 24th District is one of the state’s geographically largest legislative districts.

Van De Wege says the district’s size makes multiple town hall meetings necessary. In previous years, Van De Wege has held town halls throughout the district outside of the legislative session. He has also held several telephone town halls, which allow people throughout the district to participate in a virtual town hall by phone. Although both Tharinger and Van De Wege are considering hosting a telephone town hall as well, Van De Wege says now is the time to speak to people in person.

“A lot of tough decisions are going to be made in order to balance the state budget, and it’s important to find out what people’s priorities are,” Van De Wege said.